Simplifying Success: An Ecosystem Initiative for Improving the Financial Sustainability of Independent Digital News Media in Restricted Markets

"When independent news media globally face a myriad of threats from the shift to digital, algorithmic audience engagement, the rise of disinformation and a pandemic, financial sustainability is far from assured."

This report, published by the Media Business Unit at Internews, seeks to support the work of the media development sector in ensuring the financial sustainability of independent news media. It proposes a new ecosystem-level framework, involving a set of variables to help identify development goals that independent news media and those supporting them can prioritise to make media outlets more financially sustainable. The proposed framework is intended for use by media development implementers (such as Internews), media outlets, donors, technologists, and research partners. It is based on the author's 20 years of experience in news media, survey data from 100 independent news media outlets, discussions with colleagues and sector stakeholders, and an analysis of existing frameworks.

As explained by the author, "Although thinking in the media development sector about financial sustainability has progressed in recent years, expertise is still in the hands of relatively few successful media outlets and specialists, which limits the potential reach and impact of their expertise." In addition, "There is very little collaborative, sectoral learning from the many media development projects globally that are focused on media financial sustainability. The current research and frameworks are a valuable look in the rear-view mirror, but nowhere is there a look ahead that leverages live business performance data to guide a media outlet now and make predictions for the future. While tech giants have outcompeted news media for audiences - partly because they gather and analyse huge datasets - independent news media, working in isolation, have small datasets and often cannot benchmark themselves to others. They do not know how well they are performing, or which things they could improve that would make a significant difference to their financial sustainability."

The proposed solution outlined in the report involves two primary suggestions. The first is the adoption of a framework that classifies independent news media outlets, with a focus on outlets in freedom-restricted countries. The framework identifies four media outlet characteristics derived from an analysis of existing tools created by Internews, Newsgain, and Deutsche Welle Akademie. These are: addressable markets, distribution channels, business interference, and censorship. The characteristics are then combined with two sets of four variables, which include: local, regional/national, digital-only, multi-channel, impeded, open, censored, and uncensored.

Combining these characteristics yields 16 media types, each of which offers benchmarks according to resources, capabilities, and future revenue expectations. According to the framework, without disclosing a media outlet's identity or location, media outlets will be able to benchmark and improve their performance across a number of capability pillars, including: governance, brand, content, audience development, use of technology, and business development. The data will also reveal how successful media outlets in similar contexts are planning to generate income in the future. In addition, it will enable essential media business expertise to be pushed more easily to in-country programme teams within implementing organisations, such as Internews, creating truly bilateral information flows between them and centralised operations.

The second suggestion involves embedding the new framework into a new online protocol and platform that is designed to give immediate and actionable insights into media outlet performance. This 'Digital Performance Navigator' will be accessible to donors, implementers, and media outlets and will be fed with new data to refine the analyses and recommendations it makes. Rather than burying business performance data in reports or having it spread across disparate systems, the Navigator will collect data and transform them into insights that can be used by media outlets and at sector level.

As explained in the report, "this combination of a framework with a data platform will allow the media development sector, and those it supports, to share success characteristics while all stakeholders can retain the required privacy levels. It will reduce the performance gaps between independent media and powerful market incumbents, improving competitiveness and bringing trusted news and information to more people. It will also create a wider sectoral culture of media business expertise, enabling in-country program teams to better guide program design and support essential capacity development among media outlets, with input from experts when required."

The research on the proposed framework was originally intended to create a scalable model for Internews and its Media Business Unit. However, it is being shared publicly through this report with the aim of creating a coalition to validate and/or refine its recommendations, define requirements, and create a proof of concept. With this in mind, the report ends with a suggested outline of how the navigator can be adopted, and what a successful rollout could look like.